It always seems to be the case that you always want what someone else has. Those who live in the city want to live in a small town and those who live in a small town want to live in the city. Well, I personally have done both and can tell you the differences in both a small town and a big city and I do not think either is what people who do not live there think it is.

A small town is more of a close-knit family type feel than living in a big city. Everybody in a small town knows what goes on with your life and your family’s lives. Meaning nothing is a secret everything is out in the open for all to see. In contrast, living in a big city everybody stays to themselves. You only hang with your friend’s and you have no idea who your neighbor is let alone people down the road from you.  

Living in the big city you have the convenience of everything being right there. You do not have to worry about planning out meals for a month because the grocery store is literally down the road from your house and probably in either direction. When you live in a small town who knows when the next time you are going to make it to the grocery store and going to the grocery store is an all-day adventure.  

Living in a small town you generally do not have much to do. In fact, the most you do is go to the Friday night basketball game and hang out with friends at the local pizza parlor or at the dairy bar. When you live in a big city you have plenty to do like going to the zoo, museums, out to dinner at a sit-down restaurant, or even going thru a drive-thru. The options are endless when you live in a big city.  

Living in the big city you have multiple options for transport. You have the metro system and the bus plus the senior citizen pick up. You also have the option of grabbing a taxi, riding a bike, walking, or driving yourself although I do not suggest driving yourself due to traffic. In a small town, you always drive because that is the only way of transportation.  

Living in a small city you obviously have a lower crime rate and while many believe that it is because of the closeness of the town that crime stays low however when you have a lower population crime is automatically going to be lower than in the city. Nonetheless, in a small town, the crime rate is lower than in the city. This is a huge bonus, especially for families. I loved not being afraid to go to the store for fear that I might get shot at or going to school with no metal detectors because everybody had respect for guns in our small town. We all knew how to use them but we also respected them.  

Living in the city you have a big congregation when it comes to churches or even when it comes to schools the groups are bigger. I do not like feeling lost in the crowd so I most definitely loved the fact that I knew everybody I went to church with and pretty much knew who I went to school with even though I may not have known their name I still knew their face. Church though I knew everybody. The church congregation was so big when we lived in the city that we did not even attempt to find a church to go to while we were in transition to get to where we wanted to be.  

Living in a small town you learn the meaning of working hard and you grow up faster I feel. Everybody has to work in order to survive because the pay scale is so different in a small town that it truly does take a tribe to raise a family. You learn that there are no hand outs and in order to be successful in life you must first work hard. In a big city, your mommy and daddy take care of you until you are in your late twenties early thirties. In the city, you party your twenties away and expect everybody to give you a hand out. It is truly disgusting to me how it works.  

Living in a small town has its benefits just as living in a big city has its benefits. However, neither was for me. I needed something that was in the middle. Meaning I needed something with the small-town feel yet close to a city. We found our peaceful place to raise our children. I am truly glad I have had the experience of both living in a small town and a big city because it showed me exactly what I wanted in life and it made me strive for what I wanted even more.  

I did not want to raise my children in a city where the crime was high and they probably would end up living with us until they were in their early thirties. I wanted my children to grow up with respect and realize that in order to get what you want in life you are going to have to work hard that there truly are no hand-outs in life. I mean school is work, marriage is work, children is work, having a house is work whatever you do in life is some type of work and most definitely is not a hand out. So, my suggestion is to not live in a small town or a big city but to raise your family in a suburb. I feel that this is the best place to raise a family in today’s age.  

You may also like my posts about reasons to live in a small town and things to know before moving to a big city.